When Rep. Earl Blumenauer called Steve Novick on Wednesday to congratulate him on the success of the tax measures, Novick told the Democratic congressman he had just enough time to sprint to the White House and shake up the president's State of the Union address.

This is a teachable moment, Novick insisted: "If we can win on the issues in Oregon, we can win on the issues anywhere."

Novick says Tuesday's vote -- in which Oregonians raised taxes on corporations and their wealthiest neighbors -- sends Barack Obama a message that is just as instructive as last week's Republican victory in Massachusetts' U.S. Senate race.

"Massachusetts was not about ideology, but about anger," Novick said. "Massachusetts said, 'Things are messed up, and we're going to hold the people in charge responsible.' Here we said, 'Things are messed up, and we're going to do something about it.'

"Obama is just now realizing he has to make it look like he's not coddling the banks," Novick continued. "We ran a campaign saying we need to make banks and credit-card companies pay their fair share.

"Obama is going out with an anti-government message, saying we need to freeze discretionary spending ... (which) includes education, energy, the environment and infrastructure. We ran a campaign that reminded people of the value of those government services.

"And finally," Novick said, "this campaign demonstrated once again that organized labor is the backbone of progressive politics. It was the teachers and the home-health care workers and the child-protection workers, in addition to private sector unions, who made this possible."

"Having the deep pockets of the public-employee unions," McCormick noted, "allows you to spend more time in front of voters."

When I asked Novick whether the centrality of labor in the campaign might exacerbate resentment about public-employee benefits, he said: "That's not the way people think. Our polling has shown that for years. They think everyone should have benefits like that. Everyone should have health care. Everyone should have a decent pension."

When Measure 28 failed in 2003, Novick noted, "Forty-six percent of Oregonians voted to raise their own taxes to protect services."

To pull a voting majority into the Yes camp, the campaign targeted those who think beneficiaries of public services don't get a fair shake or believe corporations and the rich don't pay their fair share.

"I wish I could sit down with Phil Knight and take him through the state budget," Novick said. "He's given a lot of money over the years to the University of Oregon and OHSU, to education and health care. I'd like him to realize that's where most of this money goes."

While Knight opposed the measures, Yes campaign director Kevin Looper said polling shows that a "clear majority" of individuals who earn enough to qualify for the higher tax rate voted for them.